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A Holistic Remedy to the Plastic Era Through a High-Performance Photocatalytic System
Original title: A holistic remedy to the plastic era through a high–performance photocatalytic system
Summary
This review paper takes stock of a promising technology called photocatalysis, which uses light (potentially sunlight) to break down harmful microplastics and even convert plastic waste into useful chemicals. Since plastic pollution—including the tiny microplastic particles we're increasingly exposed to through food, water, and air—poses growing risks to human health, this approach offers a more sustainable alternative to traditional recycling. The researchers highlight current limitations in the technology and outline what needs to improve before it can be widely used to tackle plastic waste.
The increasing detrimental effects of plastic pollution on human health, societal systems, and the global economy demand urgent intervention. Effective management and control of plastics through preventive strategies, particularly considering their environmental fate and distribution across ecosystems, can enable plastics to be utilized as valuable carbon-rich feedstocks for the synthesis of high-value chemicals, thereby supporting global resource recovery initiatives. Conventional recycling approaches face significant limitations, highlighting the need for integrated strategies that combine efforts to reduce plastic waste generation with the implementation of innovative upcycling technologies. Among advanced treatment technologies, photocatalysis (PC) has emerged as a promising approach within advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), demonstrating high efficiency and sustainability in both the degradation of microplastics (MPs) and the upcycling of plastic wastes. This review systematically evaluates photocatalyst selection and pretreatment strategies to enhance solar-to-fuel conversion efficiency. Furthermore, it elucidates the mechanistic pathways involved in photocatalytic degradation (PCD) of MPs and photocatalytic upcycling (PCU) of plastics, while identifying key performance limitations and technological bottlenecks. Finally, the review proposes strategic research directions to improve the efficiency of PCU and provides a comprehensive perspective for researchers working in this field.